THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 19 
of the A. prunulus. This plant is worthy of notice, as fur- 
nishing a delicious article of food; I think far superior to 
our mushroom: indeed, this is the French “ Mousseron,” 
from which our name has been derived; and attached to 
the Agaricus campestris, and according to Dr. Badham, it is 
the favourite species all over the Continent; and to show 
the esteem in which it is held in Italy, the learned Doctor 
says thas little baskets of it are sent as presents to lawyers, 
and fees to medical men, &c.* 
The physiology of the growth of fungi in the grasses on 
which they feed is a curious question, and one which it 
would take too long to discuss here; suffice it to explain 
that it is easily prevented, as whatever tends to improve the 
pasture soon destroys the rings; thus on a field in front of 
the Royal Agricultural College, where in about eight acres 
were as many as seventy rings, was applied some years 
since, a dressing of bones and guano, and the fungus crop 
was for a time nearly destroyed. 
Fairy-ring agarics are great pests in lawns, arising from 
the grass being impoverished by constant cutting: these 
and mosses are soon kept under by a fine-toothed rake, and 
using guano highly diluted with sand or fine ashes, or 
watering with guano water. This treatment will make the 
grass coarser for a time; but in many cases it is a question 
of treatment of this description, or the destruction of the 
turf altogether. 
It now remains to point out a disease to which all kinds 
of grass seem liable, both the cereals and those of the mea- 
dow, namely the Secale cornutum (ergot of rye); this, until 
recently, was supposed to be a fungus, but closer examina- 
tion has shown that the ergot is an altered condition of the 
seed of the grass ; still ergot itself is liable to be attacked 
by a fungus, which has been named Ergotetia. 
Ergot has long been known as prevailing to a consider- 
able extent in the rye of the Continent ; and it is principally 
from this corn that the ergot of rye used in medicine has 
* See Dr. Badham’s book on Esculent Funguses. 
Cc 
